Monday, January 25, 2010

President Obama is Out Of Touch With Public's Priorities

After passing "Porkulus," President Obama and Democrats have been focused on Health care reform and climate change legislation for most of the year. Next year they plan to add immigration reform to the mix. This doesn't match the public's priorities at all. According to a Pew Research Center survey, Americans top five priorities are economy, jobs, terrorism, Social Security and education. The Democrats top priorities seem to be health care reform, climate change legislation, immigration reform, bailing out unions and rewarding their supporters. Of the Democrats priorities, health care comes in at eighth, immigration reform is eighteenth and global warming is twenty-first. Bailing out unions and rewarding special interest groups didn't make the list. No wonder Democrats are fairing so poorly at the polls.

At the same time, the public has shifted the emphasis it assigns to two major policy issues: dealing with the nation’s energy problem and reducing the budget deficit. About half (49%) say that dealing with the nation’s energy problem should be a top priority, down from 60% a year ago. At the same time, there has been a modest rise in the percentage saying that reducing the budget deficit should be a top priority, from 53% to 60%.